Railway carriage hosts mini movies once more after £10,000 refit

One of the world's smallest cinemas, a 23-seat railway carriage with flock wallpaper and hand-operated curtains, has been saved, writes David Smith.

La Charrette, which had shown films for 55 years, fell into disrepair and was given a last hurrah with a black-tie premiere attended by Kenneth Branagh and organised by Observer film critic Mark Kermode. The carriage was sliced into six pieces and removed from the back garden of a house in Gorseinon, near Swansea. The pieces were transported to the Gower peninsula and welded together as part of a £10,000 restoration funded by the Gower Heritage Centre.

La Charrette was built by Gwyn Phillips, an electrician who developed a passion for films while working as a projectionist.